Granted it's the sushi industry that's the butt of this joke but if this was global warming it wouldn't be so easy to satire would it? Why? Because every politician has a policy on climate change. Overfishing and marine pollution are easily as big a threat to our planet as global warming and it would be refreshing to see one of these candidates make a serious comment about this less galmorous but equally important issue.

I did not like this article in the NYTimes, and was trying to ignore Sarah's reference to it.

No, it is not very funny,

And No, it does not teach us much that is useful about our correct relationships with our fellow creatures;

And No, it is certainly not good to suggest that our candidates' professed ideals do not really have anything to do with the way we treat vulnerable sensitive non-human animals.

By all means, however, we should remind them that their message is disappointing, inasmuch as it may include a sloppy anti-animal tolerance.

Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.

I'm with BluePlanet. This mercury expose points to two huge environmental problems that need urgent action, issues that aren't getting enough attention from politicians.  We need to reduce our reliance on out-dated power plants that put mercury into the environment and we need to stop over-fishing, especially highly migratory fish such as tuna that breed exceptionally slowly compared to other fish.  Wild or ranched, eating blue fin tuna and other carnivorous fish species is unsustainable.  And the fishing and ranching methods often involve a great deal of animal suffering.

We should all be following Congressman Kucinich's example and stick to the vegetarian sushi.

The coal stripping on the Army Corps of Engineer's flood control project, Fishtrap Dam in Pike County Kentucky has created another fishy problem. Ruined the sport fishing industry here in Pike county. The Large Mouth Bass and Stipes all have black lung so bad they don't put up much of a fight. They just run with the bait a little then stop to catch their breath. We catch 20# er's on 2 pound test. Created another fishing term instead of catch and release it is now catch and resucitate. Night fishing has somewhat improved from the release of preparation plant coal chemical water. The crappy schools now glow in the dark and you do not need a fish finder to stay on top of the school. This has been offset by the third eye that they grew on the top of their head, they can see you when you park your boat over them. The heavy metals concentrated in the bottom feeders like catfish made us take them off the school lunch menu. All the 70 IQ students was bringing  in a lot of federal funding dollars for the learning disabled but the copper content made them worth more at the metal recycler. Of course we lost a few because of their new conductivity to lightning strikes. They all had magnetic personalities but were to dumb to mine coal so we cut it out. Found a new way to catch most all species until fish & game deemed it illegal. We placed a mail box at the mouth of the lake on the first of each month and fished with cheese. Was slaying them until the food stamp program started. The little card made for a good topwater bait but could not get it down to the bottom feeders.  

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.